Republicans Give Back Enron Funds

February 8, 2002|By Mark Silva Tallahassee Bureau

The Republican Party of Florida quietly has turned over $30,000, slightly more than it collected from the now-bankrupt Enron Corp. during the 2000 election campaigns, to a relief fund for the failed energy firm's employees.

The move follows similar payments of $5,000 by the Florida Democratic Party and $8,000 by the campaign fund of Florida Sen. Bob Graham.

Like the Democrats, the Republicans say they collected checks from Enron when the Houston-based company was in good standing but now think they should contribute that money to Enron workers. In Florida and nationally, Enron and its executives were major campaign donors.

During 2000, when Florida's presidential vote was hotly contested, Enron Corp. made five contributions totaling $29,000 to the state's Republican Party, according to state election records. On Friday, the GOP sent a check for $30,000 to an Enron Employee Transition Fund at the Greater Houston Community Foundation.

"We just felt it was the right thing to do, with the reports that some of the employees had lost a considerable amount of money," Daryl Duwe, party spokesman, said Thursday.

On Jan. 30, the Florida Democratic Party announced it was paying $5,000 to the Enron employees' relief fund, the amount of one contribution from Enron on June 30, 2000, and challenged the GOP to do the same.

Graham already had given relief agencies in Enron's hometown of Houston $8,000. Graham was one of 70 senators, 41 Republicans and 29 Democrats, who collected more than $530,000 from Enron and executives, according to a Washington-based study.

Initially, the state GOP said it would not match the Democratic Party's payment to Enron employees. But GOP Chairman Al Cardenas decided last week to send a check and advised Gov. Jeb Bush.

The Democrats "sent back a contribution and put out a press release," Duwe said. "We did what we did, made a contribution to a charity fund, and tried to do it quietly."

Ryan Banfil, a Democratic Party spokesman, said Thursday: "It's an interesting about-face. I'm interested in what caused them to convert on the road to Damascus."